A few weeks ago Maya started a gymnastics class for 3 and 4 year olds.  Given her undying love of tumbling, jumping, swinging from bars, etc, I figured gymnastics was the way to go.  It would give her an outlet for some of her energy.  It would give her a chance to build confidence in herself and her abilities.

She loves it.  Every Monday morning she gets super excited knowing that right after breakfast it will be time to head to her “gym class”.  She is not, however, without apprehension about the class.  This is her first independent class.  The kids go into the room with the teacher on their own and the moms sit outside the room and watch through windows (at least that is the way it supposed to work).

The first couple of classes Maya wouldn’t go in on her own. I had to go in with her and she would sit on my lap and watch the class as they got started and then join in a few minutes later when she warmed up to the idea of being part of the class.  By the third week I was able to sneak out half way through and when she noticed she was fine with it.  The 4th week I thought I would try to push her a little and convinced her to go in by herself.  She started out okay but then feel and hit her head, it was all down hill from there.  She was inconsolable, even with me holding her and she begged to go home.  I sat with her for a while and finally convinced her to rejoin her class while I sat in the room and watched.  Last week, week 5, I had to sit in with her again for the whole class. I probably could have left the room part way through but didn’t want to push my luck. We’ll see what next week holds.

She is quite shy and definitely a “mommy’s girl”, but slowly I see her coming out of her shell.  I see her interacting with her teacher and her classmates with so much more confidence than when she first started.  I’m sure within a couple of weeks she’ll be running into the room with her friends without even a look back, without a care as to which side of the glass I am on.